Sands:Winds and Dreams
by Kelyi
Summary: Lost in the sands of time, Ardeth Bay discovers that Imhotep was the least of all problems. (Post Mummy Returns)
1. Default Chapter

Winds and Dreams

Ardeth Bay was irratated, it had been a long day in the hot sun, and now as the night fell and the first cool breezes settled across the dunes, Ardeth finally felt himself start to relax. He couldn't understand why he had been so irratable lately, it was possibly his inpending talks of marriage with another tribe, Ardeth was reaching the age where he was aging, still young, but starting to make everyone nervous that he would not have a son to take his place when the time came. Whispering softly to his black stallion in arabic, urging the animal to a quick trot as his watch took him around the backside of a crumbling ancient city. Hamperta was barely more then a memory now, and with Imhotep seemingly gone forever, sent to the underworld along with the Scorpian King, Ardeth felt his razor edge going dull. There had been nothing but wind these past few nights, wind and dreams that whispered softly into his mind, something that was just below councious level, a faint trace of a dream memory. Shaking his head to clear it, Ardeth continued his trek around the crumbling stones scolding himself for getting lost in his thoughts. An enemy could have had him dead by now without Ardeth even knowing what had hit him. Pulling his horse's rains as he stopped at the top of the slope quickly, he squinted through the darkness into a small catacobe that had been created by the rocks and crumbling buildings, feeling his heart beat quicker as he confirmed what he had first thought he had seen, Light. Spurring his heels into the horse's flank, Ardeth quickly rode down the dune and into the confines of the ancient place.

Feet soft on the sand, not a sound came as Ardeth, with scimater in hand, towards the intruder known at the moment only as light. As he neared the small out cropping, Ardeth caught a glance of the intruder and felt his breathing quicken. What was a women doing here? Doubting that the woman was alone, Ardeth qucikly glanced around for any others that might be wandering around near by. Strangely, Ardeth saw no others with this lone intruder. Watching the woman for a few seconds, Ardeth noticed that she seemed to have her dark head buried in some partchment while she was aranging things around the camp, muttering softly to herself. Ardeth carefully moved around the rock, carefully making sure nothing else stirred besides this strange woman. Once he was certian no one else was near, Ardeth quickly came around the rock, and a well placed throw knocked the partchment from the woman's hand, leaving his knife quivering in the tent post, the partchment carefully caught by it's right corner. The woman was looking from the partchment and then back to Ardeth again, her soft grey eyes betrayed her emotions of fear and awe at this great show of finely honed skill. Backing up slightly she was reaching for something behind her, carefully she caught his eyes his hers,

"Who are you? What do you want"

Ardeth lowered his scimtar slightly, trying to place her at ease that he had no intent to harm her. Pulling the cloth away from his face, trying once more to calm the woman, Ardeth softly spoke in a soothing tone,

"Ardeth Bay, Leader of the Medjai and you are tresspassing Miss..."

"Emira, Emira James."

Ardeth arched an eyebrow, Emira was an Arabic name, and the young woman defeniently looked as if she belonged in the desert. She had straight black hair, and sunbaked skin that was fairly smooth, minus the scars that dotted here and there. But James was an english or American name, and come to think Ardeth had noticed her accent was slightly strange.

"Well Ms. James, As I said before you are tresspassing. I will give half an hour to leave."

Ardeth was turning to return to his horse when his danger flew back through the air and landed with a nice 'thunk' against a small fallen statue. Turning from the offending stone, Ardeth looked quickly back at the young woman, a defient smirk was pasted across her face, her cobalt eyes laughing as they danced with the moonlight.

"You might be needing that, and I am NOT leaving."

Ardeth looked hard at the young woman, he had never understood the ways of the Western women, speaking out in turn, never taking proper orders, something novel and strange to him. The woman once again shook her thick dark hair, which, Ardeth noticed, was long, falling down her back, landing near her waist, slightly curling here and there. Her dark blouse was contrasted by her bright yellow skirt, far too bright in the night to blend into the sand that Ardeth was now rubbing his booted heel into, annoyed that he might actually have to physically remove the now bothersome discovery, the first in weeks. Ardeth sighed heavily, and reached behind him to remove his knife, never taking his eyes off the intruder, wandering if he had been thrown off by her apparent beauty, her outside innocence, she could be some forgien scepter sent to once again attempt mass chaos. Adding a hard edge to his soft voice, Ardeth once again brought up his scimitar, on guard now,

"Ms. James, I do not know who you are, but you are tresspassing upon lands you have no reason to be upon. Go home. I do not wish to forcefully remove you."

Watching, Ardeth noted that the woman's eyes became harder, her body straightening up quickly, her mocha head raising slightly, curls tumbling totally free from her shoulders as she placed her small hands on her hips, glaring hard at the Medjai leader, half hidden in the shadows.

"Mr. Bay, I will not be leaving. I have waited my entire life to come to Hamaneptra, and I will not be leaving until I finish my studies here, then I will return to the University in Cairo. Now, please sir, if you don't mind, you are in my way. Very much so in my way."

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TBC... Shortly

**Authors Note:**Reviews are not only read, but celebrated. An artist lives on the feedback from the audience, so please, review if you do have the time. Constructive reviews, questions, and comments please. Any flames will be captured, and added to the kiln. I do not own the Mummy, the Scorpian King, or any of the characters, minus Emira. No touchy please. I will put everyone back when I am done playing with them. If you are planning to sue me for money, forget it, I'm a Classical Vocal Performance Major, and I'll only be able to offer you the moths in my wallet. Which, if you want, you can gladly have them as well.


	2. Winds

Emira turned away from Ardeth Bay, dismissing him quickly as she returned to reading the partchment that she had recently freed from its post in the wall, her attentions apparently elsewhere as Ardeth struggled to keep his cool. These women! Debating weither the strange woman was a threat or not, Ardeth moved to slowly replace his scimitar in his belt, deciding if he should simply throw her over his shoulder and carry her off back towards Cairo, dumping her along a well traveled path, or if he should simply leave her be for awhile, and see if she would eventually get bored and leave on her own. He quickly decided against the latter, even an innocent could stumble into the wrong path and awaken some monster. Ardeth knew in his gut that Imhotep wasn't the last in a line of swirling secrets that the Medjai struggled with their lives to protect.

"Ms. James, this is your last warning. Leave."

Emira didn't bother to even turn around, as Ardeth felt his anger flare. Who did this woman think she was? She didn't even acknowledge his presence as he spoke to her! Moving quickly, Ardeth's arm shot out and his hand quickly, and roughly, closed around Emira's upper arm. A quick gasp escaped her mouth as Ardeth tightened his grip and pulled her away, she started to protest, but found a dark rough hand covering her mouth. Struggling, Emira tried to wriggle out of Ardeth's hard grasp as he roughly pulled her along, away from the ancient city, and her belongings. Feeling him ram his elbow into her back to force her still, Ardeth cursed under his breath as he tried to hold the young woman long enough to at least get her hands tied. He failed when she roughly bit his hand, and managed a fairly on elbow ram into his gut, causing him to gasp in pain, and giving Emira enough time to wriggle free.

Moving quickly away from Ardeth, Emira searched quickly for something to put between her, and the now raging Medjai. Running quickly along the edge of the dune, watching as Ardeth recovered out of the corner of her eye, Emira felt herself run into the darker shadow of an ancient building, ducking down a corrider, and quickly doubling back down the next, her breathing ragged as she listened for Ardeth's footsteps, praying he hadn't been able to follow her this far. Feeling her chest heave as she struggled to get her breathing under control, Emira pondered why this strange man would wish her gone. As far as everyone knew, this land belonged to no one, no one but Egypt itself, she wasn't tresspassing. She had heard the strange stories though, of the men who guarded the deserts, but the stories were as varied as the winds that blew through the desert, many secrets still earthed under it's shifting sands. Feeling her heart rate begin to slow, and hearing no comming footsteps or breathing, Emira moved slightly, her hands feeling on the wall behind her...until it vanished and she felt her feet fall out from under her.

She felt the scream vibrating off the walls, before she relized it was her voice, screaming as she seemed to fall into an oblivion. She knew the Pharoahs would booby-trap their tombs, and apparently she had just fallen into one, she felt fear rising as her scream intensified, frightened by the thought of what death would await her at the bottom of the seemingly endless casasm. Her hands flailing uselessly as she struggled to grab onto something, she felt herself land heavily onto something hard and solid, feeling the air being knocked clean out of her as her conciousness faded away, black creeping over the edges of her vision.

Ardeth Bay had heard the screams from the young woman, and he had, unkown to Emira, been close behind her the whole time, going down a paralell corridor, torch in hand, fairly familiar with the corriders of Hamanaptura, execpt for the trap door the woman had fallen down. He could have sworn that wall that had opened up and swallowed her, was only a wall, just another of the beautiful antiquities that told the danger and mystery of his ancestors. Moving quicker to the shaft when heard the woman's screams abruptly stop, Ardeth leaned over in the darkess, moving his torch to try to see if the young woman had even survived the fall. If she was gone, her fatality would simply be another one of the many deaths and tragedies that occured to travelers alone in the desert.

TBC... Shortly

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Authors Note:Reviews are not only read, but celebrated. An artist lives on the feedback from the audience, so please, review if you do have the time. Constructive reviews, questions, and comments please. Any flames will be captured, and added to the kiln. I do not own the Mummy, the Scorpian King, or any of the characters, minus Emira (Which is Arabic for "Princess"). No touchy please. I will put everyone back when I am done playing with them. If you are planning to sue me for money, forget it, I'm a Classical Vocal Performance Major, and I'll only be able to offer you the moths in my wallet. Which, if you want, you can gladly have them as well, they keep eating up phone numbers of potential dates.**


	3. Pasts

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Sorry about the long wait! I've had horrid writters block! Finally, an update! Please review! Thanks to everyone who has already reviewed! I love you!_

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Peering into the gloom, Ardeth was shocked not to see anything, just simple darkness that starkly stared back at him, tempting him to jump in. Then a gust of wind echoed up the shaft, causing Ardeth to jump back into the wall behind him as the rest of the floor crumbled into the pit,

Ardeth cursing at the woman on his way down, struggling to keep himself to being crushed as large peices of stone clammered down. Seeing the floor now rush up at him, as his torch managed to hit the ground before him, Ardeth struggled to cover his face with his arms, feeling the large stones comming down towards him. Hitting the floor with a sharpness that took his breath away, Ardeth struggled to pull himself away from the falling peices of debris, managing only to scramble a few feet, feeling the stones rain down behind him, a few smaller ones even falling on him as he groaned, knowing soon he would have massive bruises, not to mention the fact that a rib or two must be broken as he took in sharp, painful gasps of air.

Struggling to see around the darkening corners, Ardeth knew he had to get up, and, while his struggling body protested, he managed to drag himself to his feet, shakely, and managed to wobble towards his torch. As he bent to grab the flamming bit of wood, which was, thankfully, still lit, Ardeth felt a large force hit him square in the chest, sending him backwards into a wall with a resounding thump, sliding down the wall to a crumpled up sitting position on the floor, as his head began to throb without mercy. Forcing his eyes open, Ardeth watched as a man, skinny and bald, wearing the traditional grab of one of the many ancient Pharoahs, moved towards Emira, his eyes dark, mouth closed in a thin line of anger, hurt pride radiating from the man. He moved a hand, quick as lighting, and managed to knock Emira off, what now Ardeth could see, was a large alter. Hitting the floor harshly, the young woman awoke with a start, and a slighy groan as she struggled to turn and see whom had knocked her so soundly. Her eyes widening at the man whom stood before her, as she turned to scramble back, moving as quickly as she could over the broken and protesting landscape. Watching as the man came towards her, having the advantage of being on his feet, and being unharmed, Emira struggled even harder to escape as he reached down, taking her arm roughly in his.

"Bravo Ankhasunamun. You've eluded me for far longer then I ever could have even predicted, but no longer. I tire of being stuck in this limbo of hell between life and death...and you shall help me on my way, your majesty!"

Snarling out the last words, the man started to drag the protest Emira across the floor hapshardedly, cuts started to form as blood seeped through Emira's stark yellow skirt and white blouse. Feeling her scream echo off the wall, Ardeth struggled to pull himself to his feet, reaching deep into his robe to draw his smicitar, when another gust of wind pushed him to the ground. The man stopped walking and turned to face Ardeth,

"I think not Medjai. You will NOT interfere this time!"

This distraction proved enough for Emira to quickly move and bite the man's arm, causing him to howl in pain and release her, and with a quick kick to the groin, causing the man to double over, Emira struggled to move away. Watching as his eyes began to burn with fire as he struggled after her, Emira vainly tried to move quicker towards the last standing wall, and towards the armed Medjai, knowing if she could get there, a knife wouldn't be far out of reach. Throwing her hand out to grab Ardeth's leg, Emira felt a hand snag her ankle, she turned, her dark eyes wide as anger frothing eyes met hers. The man spoke,

"Time to die, my queen."

A sicking smile spread across his lips, as Emira finally did what she had been longing to do since the start of the whole ordeal, she screamed her bloody head off. Seeing the man's smile widen at that as he drew an ancient knife, Emira felt tears gather at the edge of her eyes, closing them as she anticipated the blow that would surely come...when she heard a soft rumbling from above. Feeling her eyes snap open, Emira watched as the man's face showed chargin anger, and a slight ammount of fear as he released her, his eyes focusing on the ceiling above. Looking up Emira saw what was troubling the man, as small pebbles began to rain down on her, the rumbling increasing as the ceiling began to fall in larger chunks. Looking for one final time at her, and driving his knife into her leg, Emira screamed again as blood began to bubble out around the edges of the embedded object, her tears finally falling as she watched the man run into the hazey doom, no doubt leaving her and the strange desert man to die.

Feeling a hand reach out and grab her, Emira was shocked to see Ardeth yanking her away from the center of the floor, and towards the wall quickly, her body protesting as cuts were felt all over again. Upon reaching the wall, Ardeth pulled Emira under his body, pulling her into his chest as the world rained down upon them. The sound became unbearable as Emira squeezed her eyes shut, and covered her ears. The torrent lasted a few moments longer, then the sound quieted as the world was plunged into darkness.

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TBC... Shortly

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**Authors Note:**Reviews are not only read, but celebrated. An artist lives on the feedback from the audience, so please, review if you do have the time. Constructive reviews, questions, and comments please. Any flames will be captured, and added to the kiln. I do not own the Mummy, the Scorpian King, or any of the characters, minus Emira (Which is Arabic for "Princess"). No touchy please. I will put everyone back when I am done playing with them. If you are planning to sue me for money, forget it, I'm a Classical Vocal Performance Major, and I'll only be able to offer you the moths in my wallet. Which, if you want, you can gladly have them as well, they keep eating up phone numbers of potential dates.


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